The world is rapidly moving toward urbanization. There is no better
evidence of urbanization in our state than Hyderabad, which had about a million
people in 1950 and today is teeming with nearly 7 million people.77 A growing
Hyderabad is immensely beneficial to the Nizam Telangana districts encircling the
capital city. The farmers of the Ranga Reddy, Nalgonda, and Mahbubnagar districts
have benefitted from having a large market with an insatiable appetite right in their
backyard. Scores of people derive their daily subsistence by supplying vegetables,
fruits, milk, and meat to the city population. In addition, many poor farmers, with
lands near the city, have become overnight millionaires because of the real estate
boom. Division of our state will wreak havoc on these economic activities.
Some claim that, even if the state is divided, Hyderabad’s well-developed
economy, with its thriving IT, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, and services
industries, is secure. That is an utterly false presumption.
Today, Hyderabad is the favorite investment destination for businesspersons
hailing from all three regions of the state. In a divided state, that will not be the
case. New capital investments in and around the capital city could potentially
halve as Rayalaseema and Kosta investments flee Hyderabad. As a result, the
pace of the fast-growing Hyderabad economy would slow. With the slowdown in
economic growth, job market would weaken, real estate market would suffer, and
this would have a cascading effect on various economic sectors.
If we allow the lunacy of separation to prevail, the people of Kosta,
Rayalaseema, and Nizam Telangana regions, whose lifetime investments are
in Hyderabad, will pay a steep price. Hyderabad in recession would affect the
economies of the satellite districts of Ranga Reddy, Medak, Nalgonda, and Mahbubnagar dramatically.
Those who question the possibility of investments fleeing from Hyderabad
need to look at what happened to the Telugu movie industry in Chennai. For
many years, people believed that it was impossible to move a well-entrenched
Telugu movie industry out of Chennai. However, once Telugu regional spirit
kicked in, followed up with a dose of government incentives, the entire Telugu
movie industry moved to Hyderabad in a mere decade. Does anyone doubt
that a newly formed Kosta-Seema state government would not provide similar
incentives for industries to relocate to their region? Moving manufacturing and
service industries is far easier than moving a movie industry. Remember Tata’s
prestigious Nano manufacturing plant in Singur? It disappeared into thin air in a
matter of weeks.
In a divided state, the size of the Nizam Telangana government would
be less than half of the current one. That would suck the money out of the city
economy faster than anyone can imagine. There would be far fewer government
employees pumping money into the city economy. Having to reckon with a smaller
budget, the government would have fewer funds available for the upkeep of roads,
public sanitation, and to maintain law and order.
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